Gingrich Blasts House GOP's Medicare Plan

Presidential Candidate Calls It 'Right-Wing Social Engineering,' Agrees With Obama About Need for Insurance Mandate

By

Laura Meckler

Updated May 16, 2011 12:01 a.m. ET

White House hopeful Newt Gingrich called the House Republican plan for Medicare "right-wing social engineering," injecting a discordant GOP voice into the party's efforts to reshape both entitlements and the broader budget debate.

In the same interview Sunday, on NBC's "Meet the Press," Mr. Gingrich backed a requirement that all Americans buy health insurance, complicating a Republican line of attack on President Barack Obama's health law.

The former House speaker's decision to stick with his previous support for an individual mandate comes days after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defended the health revamp he championed as governor, which includes a mandate.

The moves suggest the Republican primary contest, which will include both men, could feature a robust debate on health care, with GOP candidates challenging the Democratic law while defending their own variations.

On the List for 2012?

Later Sunday, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he also acknowledged that many Republicans are uncomfortable with requiring insurance coverage but challenged them to offer an alternative solution. "Most Republican voters agree with the principle that people have some responsibility to pay for their costs," he said.

ENLARGE

As Mike Huckabee exits, Newt Gingrich takes a shot at Paul Ryan's plan, and like Mitt Romney, supports the concept of a mandate to buy insurance.
NBC / Associated Press

Mr. Gingrich also said he would like to see the mandate implemented at the state level, with states experimenting with alternative approaches. But he said he should apply to all Americans.

The Republican presidential field is beginning to take shape after an unusually long delay, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee saying he would skip the 2012 race and the other candidates beginning to engage in substantive policy debates.

Mr. Huckabee declined to endorse any of the remaining candidates. His decision opens the door for other Republicans to court the Christian conservatives who fueled the former Baptist minister's 2008 campaign.

Mr. Gingrich, who has fashioned himself as a policy wonk in recent years, instantly roiled an already controversial debate over the U.S.'s long-term budget picture. He said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that seniors should not be required to use a new Medicare program, as envisioned by the House GOP, but should be persuaded to voluntarily migrate to a better system.

ENLARGE

Paul Ryan
Associated Press

"I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering," he said when asked about a Medicare plan championed by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) as an element of the party's 2012 budget proposal. He said he was against "radical change" on the right and the left.

The House GOP budget would privatize Medicare for Americans under age 55. When they reach retirement age, they would receive a government subsidy to buy a private insurance policy instead of participating in the existing government-run system. The subsidies' value likely would not rise as quickly as health care costs are expected to rise.

Ryan spokesman Conor Sweeney said in response to Mr. Gingrich that Mr. Ryan's plan is the only serious proposal for Medicare, which faces long-term financial crisis as health costs rise and Baby Boomers join the program's ranks. "The most 'radical' course of action on Medicare is to continue to cling to the unsustainable status quo," he said.

ENLARGE

Mike Huckabee
Associated Press

The GOP budget cleared the House as part of a budget outline without a single Democratic vote, and Democrats have sought to use the policy as a line of political attack with voters.

Republican leaders have said they do not plan to write legislation that would flesh out details of the concept. But they also say the Ryan plan remains their position in budget talks with the White House and the Senate.

Other Republican candidates for president, including Mr. Romney and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, have applauded Mr. Ryan for showing leadership in putting together a budget plan, but have declined to endorse its elements.

In the interview with the Journal, Mr. Gingrich also said that in advocating for big changes to Medicare, House Republicans have failed to both come up with the right policy, and to properly sell it to the country. He said bad salesmanship was part of President Obama's problem in pushing his own health care plan. "Republicans should learn. There's a big lesson there," he told the Journal.

Mr. Gingrich also stuck with his past support for the central plank of the Obama health plan—the mandate to buy insurance.

In 1993, Mr. Gingrich said Americans should be required to have health insurance just as they are required to have automobile insurance. Back then, he endorsed the use of vouchers to help everyone buy insurance. He also endorsed the use of income-based vouchers to help everyone buy insurance.

ENLARGE

Mitt Romney
Associated Press

On Sunday, Mr. Gingrich said he opposes the Obama plan because it creates a "Washington-based model, a federal system" with exchanges that try to "replace the entire insurance system."

He also contended that people should be required to buy coverage or post a bond to cover their costs should they need care and lack insurance. Like Mr. Romney—and Mr. Obama—Mr. Gingrich spoke of the "free rider" problem: those who go uninsured and then don't pay their bills when they get sick, spreading the costs across the system.

"All of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care," he said Sunday.

When Mr. Gingrich endorsed the mandate in 1993, many Democrats were pressing for a government-run health system without private insurance companies. The mandate—a badge of individual responsibility—was seen then as a conservative alternative.

In 2012, Mr. Gingrich may find these views problematic in the Republican contests, where a large number of voters view the Obama health plan as Exhibit A in government overreach. A lawsuit brought by mostly GOP governors argues the Obama mandate is unconstitutional.

"I'd like Speaker Gingrich to show me in the Constitution where the government has the right to force people to buy health insurance," said Debbie Dooley, state coordinator for the Georgia Tea Party Patriots. "That's going to hurt him among tea party activists, extremely."

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